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SPEECH 



OF 



HON. HENRY BE DINGER, OF VIRtHNIA, 



ON 



THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE. 



DELIVERED 



THE HOUSE _0P REPRESENTATIVES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1848. 



1^ 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1848, 



'I 






INSTRUCTIONS TO MR. SEIDELL. 



The House having resolved itself into Commit- 
tee of the Whole upon the state of the Union, 
ujjon the Special Message of the President of the 
United States, in reply to the following Resolu- 
tion of the House of 4th January : 

"Resolved, That the Presidrnt of the United States be 
requested to coinmuiiicate to this House any instructions 
which may have been given to any of the officers of the 
army or navy of the United States, or other persons, in 
regard to the return of President General Antonio Lopr^z de 
Santa Anna, or any other Mexican, to tlie Republic of 
Mexico, prior or subsequent to the order of the Priisident 
or Secretary of War, issued in January, 1846, for the maich 
of the army from the Nueces river, across the ' stupendom 
deserts' wliich intervene, to tlie Rio Grande ; that tlie date 
of ail such instructions, orders, and corrospoiidence, be set 
forth, together with tiie instructions and orders issued to 
Mr. Slidcll at any time prior or subsequent to his departure 
for Mexico as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
to ttiat Repablic :" 

Mr. BEDINGER' addressed the committee as 
folio v/s: 

Mr. Chairman: I am not certain that the remarks 
which I have to make this morning will occupy the 
whole of the hour allotted to me. I should be well 
pleased, if I could have it in my power to express, 
upon this occasion, some views and opinions upon 
our present contest with Mexico, and upon the 
contemplated policy of our Government towards 
that Republic. But, captivated as I have been by 
the illustrious examples afforded me by certain gen- 
tlemen on the opposite side of the House, I shall 
feel compelled to postpone to some future day the 
remarks which I had to make upon that subject, 
and confine myself principally to the recent mes- 
sage of the President, sent to this House, in an- 
swer to our resolution calling upon him to furnish 
us with certain information, &c., concerning our 
relations with Mexico. I believe that I was one 
of those who voted for that resolution; and I did 
so, because I had all confidence in the prudence 
and discretion of the Executive, and because I did 
not choose to rest under the imputation of being 
afraid even to ask the President for the informa- 
tion called for by that resolution. 

It is true, sir, I should have preferred that the 
usual clause of reservation should have been in- 
serted in the resolution. But I chose to vote for 
it even without that clause, rather than vote against 
it. I preferred that it should pass in the shape it 
did, rather than not pass at all; because I felt very 
certain that the President would cheerfully furnish 
to Congress any information in his power which 
he did not deem incompatible with his duty and 



with the best interests of the country to promul- 
gate. And it seems that I was not mistaken, either 
in my estimate of the prudence and discretion of 
the Executive, or of his willingness to furnish to 
Congress, in obedience to its call, all the informa- 
tion which a strict regard to his duty would permit 
him. He has furnished us with everything which 
he deemed it prudent or wise to publish at this 
time. He has told us why it was that Santa Anna 
was permitted to pass through our blockading 
squadron on his return to Mexico. He has refer- 
red us to his annual message of December, 1846, 
in which all the facts connected with Santa Anna's 
return are fairly set forth, and all the reasons which 
led to that stroke of policy frankly given. He tells 
us, moreover, how it was that Paredes eluded the 
vigilance of our forces, and made his way into 
Mexico, upon his return from Europe. But he 
declines to comply with that portion of the call 
which demands "tile instructions and orders issued 
to Mr. Slidell, at any time prior or subsequent to 
his departure for Mexico, as minister plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States to that Republic. " With 
this portion of the demand of Congress, the Presi- 
dent thinks his duty and the interests of the coun- 
try forbid him to comply, and he gives us his 
reasons at length for declining to comply — quoting, 
in support of them, the example of Washington. 
And, sir, I think I shall be able to show, before I 
take my seat, that the President has acted with 
wisdom and prudence, as well as with deference 
and respect to the House. And I feel convinced, 
notwithstanding the tremendous outbreak of affect- 
ed indignation with which the Opposition have 
attacked his action in this matter — notwithstanding 
the surprise manifested by the gentleman fr6m 
Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,] who ventured the 
opinion that it was th^ " very first time in the his- 
tory of the Union that such a call had been de- 
nied" — notwithstanding the violent attack of the 
gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. Tompkivs,] who 
affects to stand aghast at the unexampled conduct 
of the President — notwithstanding all the fluttering 
which this Executive bomb-shell has occasioned 
among the gentlemen on the other side of the 
House, — I feel convinced that the people, and the 
world in general, will justify the conduct of the 
Executive, because they will perceive at a glance 
that he could not possibly have acted otherwise 
than he did, and retained the slightest reputation 
for prudence and statesmanship, or even for com- 
mon sense. The gentleman from Massachusetts 



4 



thinks the President's conduct without a precedent 
in the history of the Union; but, sir, I think I 
shall be able to show that he is sustained by the 
example of more than one of his illustrious prede- 
cessors. 

The examples of Washington and Monroe have 
already been quoted; but as these seem to be regard- 
ed by the present revilers of the Executive as rather 
indifferent authority, I think it possible 1 shall be 
able to furnish them with a precedent rather better 
suited to their tastes. Sir, I am no great ransacker 
of records — no great rooter-up of reminiscences. I 
do not care to waste my time in tlie barren search 
after precedents in cases where reason and com- 
mon sense must inevitably lead to conviction with- 
out them. But upon this occasion I did take the 
trouble to rummage a little among the volumes of 
the House Library, and for once my search was 
not entirely fruitless, for there I found a very cu- 
rious document — one, in my opinion, particularly 
applicable to the present discussion — and which, 
with the permission of this committee, I will read 
to them. I read from Gales & Seaton's Congres- 
sional Debates, vol. 2, page 174, from a speech de- 
livered by the Hon. JVIr. Hayne, of South Caro- 
lina, in the Senate of the United States, on the 
far-famed Panama mission. Mr. Hayne goes on 
to say : 

" The next important step in owr procecdings-oii this sub- 
ject was the resoUition passed by the Senate on the 15th 
February, ' tliat the question ought to be discussed with open 
doors,' unless the publication of tlic documents would be 
'prejudicial to pending negotiations,' and on this point in- 
formation was respectfully requested of the Executive, the 
officer charged with all our negotiations. To this resolution 
the President replied in the following message: 

" ' Washington, February 16, 1826. 
« « To (he Senate of the United States: 

" ' In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 
' 15th instant, marked Executive, and which I have received, 
'I state respectfully, chat all the ci^^nuiunicutions from me 
' to the Senate relating to the Congress at Panama have been 
* made, like all otiier communications upon Executive busi- 
' ness, in conjyencc, and most of them in compliance with a 
' resolution of the Senate requesting them confidentially. 
' Believing tliat the established usage of free confidential 
' communications between the Executive and the Senate 
'Otts;/i<, for the public interest, to be -preserved unimpaired, 
' I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the Senate 
'itselfTlie decision of a question involving a departure hith- 
' erto, so far as I am informed, without example, from that 
' usage, and upon the motives for which, not being informed 
'of them, I do not feel myself competent to decide. 

"'JOHN aUINCY ADAMS.' 

"The plain and obvious /neaning of this message," con- 
tinued Mr. Wayne, " divested of tho diplomatic g:irb in which 
it is invested, is, that we were bound by the confidence 
which had been imposed upon us by the Executive, (who 
kindly reminds us of what our usages are, what they oiit^kt 
to he, and that tht~y ought not to be changed;) and while lie 
leaves us free to act as we think proper, re/^^ses t:> furnish vs 
vJith the iriformation on which alone we could act, and for 
which we had respectfully called." 

Upon the same occasion, or shortly after, John 
Randolph, commenting upon the same message, 
g makes use of the following language : 

"If he would leave to the Senate the decision of the ques- 
tion, I would a*roe with him. But the evil genius of the 
American House of Stuart prevailed. He goes on to say, 
that the question 'involves a departure hitiierto, so far as I 
« am informed, without example, from that usage, a;id upnn 
'the motices for which, not bemg informed of them, I do not 
' feel myself co.mpetent to decide.' If this had been prose- 
cuted for a libel, what jury would have failed to have found 
a verdict on such an inuendo that we were breaking up from 
our own usages, to gratify personal spleen .' * * * Who 
made him a judgi'of our usages.' Who made him the censor 
morumof tliisbody.'' Aboveall, whomadehim the searcher 
of hearts, and gave him the ri:;ht, by an inuendo black as 
hell, to blaclten our motives.' Blacks.T our motives— I did 



net say that then ; I was more under self-command. * * * 
I said, if he could borrow the eye of Omniscience himself, 
and look into every bosom here — if he could look into that 
most awful, calamitous, and tremendous of all possible gulfsj 
the naked, unveiled human heart, stripped of all its cover- 
ings of self-love, exposed naked as to the eye of God, — I 
said if he could do that, lie was not, as President of the 
United States, entitled to pass upon our motives, although 
he saw and knew them to be bad," &c. . 

Now, sir, (continued Mr. B.,) I have but little 
comment to make myself upon this' curious and 
very remarkable message. I leave its defence, if 
any can be set up, to that side of the House — to 
those gentlemen who have been smitten witli such- 
holy liorror, such inexpressible wonderment, at 
the recent rnessage of the present Executive — I 
leave it for them to say which of the two messages 
is the more rational in its refusal, which the more 
respectful in its tone. President Polk at least 
does not attempt to impugn our motives " by inu- 
endo black as hell," or otherwise; and I cantfct 
be made to believe that the correspondence, in- 
structions, and orders, from the Executive to Mr. 
Slidell, will not be deemed by every one not utterly 
blinded by prejudice or passion, equally as im- 
portant and as necessary to be kept secret as were 
any of the documents or negotiations connected 
vv'ith the world-renowned mission to Panama. 

Sir, we were not at war with. Panama or any 
other portion of the world at that time. We were 
not then, as now, contending with barbarous and 
stubborn enemies, whose unholy cause and cow- 
ard hearts are encouraged and sustained more by 
the factious grumbling and querulous complaining 
of party leaders against the conduct and policy of 
our Government, than by the valor of their own 
arms. The Senate did not require of the then 
Executive to publish to the world secret orders 
and instructions, whether or not, in his opinion, 
such publication would prove vitally injurious to 
the best interests of his country. The Senate did 
not then demand of the President to show hia 
hand, in time of war, to his country's enemy, 
thereby enabling that enemy to mend his own 
hand preparatory to any future negotiations. No, 
sir, the Senate simply and most respectfully asked 
of the President — " the officer charged v/ith all our 
negotiations"-^o inform them whether, in his 
opinion, tlie publication of the documents would 
be prejudicial to the pending negotiations; and the 
President very cavalierly tells them to decide that 
question for themselves ! Yet he himself, his 
friends and supporters, are unsparing and furious 
in their attacks upon the present Executive, be- 
cause he declines to make public secret correspon- 
dence, orders, and instructions to our minister 
in time of war, and when it is daily anticipated 
that negotiations may be reopened between this 
country and Mexico ! 

Sir, it is not wonderful that men who daily deliv- 
er speeches, and utter sentiments, which cause the 
chief captains of the Mexican army at once to yield 
the palm of virulent detraction and bitter denuncia- 
tion, and content themselves with merely reading 
these speeches and sentiments to their own troops, 
as the very surest method of inciting them to rage 
and revenge, — it is' not wonderful that men who, 
day after day, declare to the wide world, that their 
country, by her recent conduct -towards Mexico, 
has covered herself with degradation and disgrace, 
— who, imilatina; the example ofthose birds famous 
for " fouling their own nests," rise in their places 
and denounce the policy of their country as that of 



a murderess, a colossal plunderer, who, scorning 
the puny bonds of human justice and human faith, 
deaf to the voice of mercy and humanity, trnmpHng 
under foot all sacred obligations to God and man, 
heartless, remorseless, faithless, goaded on by the 
lust of plunder and the scent of blood, plants her 
polluted standard upon the ravished soil of a weak 
and unoffending sister, and, amidst the blood of 
martyrs and tlie tears of innocence, strives, with 
fiendish eagerness, to blot her very name from 
the roll of nations, — that men who daily declare 
that the cause of their country's present struggle 
is one upon which Eternal Justice must forever 
frown and that her actions are such as to condemn 
her over the whole civilized world, — it is not 
wonderful that these gentlemen, in their eager- 
ness to stab the Executive, should strike, though 
they know they cannot reach him but by disre- 
garding and spurning from them the illustrious 
example of the Father of his Country. Sir, the 
Moloch of party hesitates not to receive as a 
sacrifice the mangled reputation of the best and 
greatest; and I, for one, was but little surprised 
that the example of Washington should avail the 
President nothing against the attacksof the Oppo- 
sition; but I was surprised — I did deem it won- 
derful, " passing strange" — that these gentlemen, 
in their mad haste to strike the President, should 
deal their blows upon their much-admired friend, 
the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams.] 
Every blow which they do strike at the present 
Executive falls with redoubled force upon the gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts. Compare the two 
messages, I repeat again, and I think it will be a 
curious mind which can condemn the one and ap- 
plaud the other. 

Sir, I wish to be distinctly understood in this 
matter, /make no attack upon the gentleman from 
Massachusetts; T do not condemn his conduct. I 
know that 1 have not the power (and I am sure I 
should be incapable of using it if I had) to detract 
in the slightest degree from his fame, whatever it 
may be. I doubt not that when he wrote the mes- 
sage which I have just read, there were reasons 
for so doing, which, to his mind, were all-suffi- 
cient; and I only ask that the same charity may 
be extended to the present Executive. I do not 
like the inconsistency of which gentlemen are guiltjt, 
when with one hand they draw the most hideous 
caricature of the President, and depict his conduct 
in the most hateful colors; and with the other hold 
up to light and glory their highly wrought portrait 
of thegenlleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams.] 
If that gentleman indeed be the "culminating star 
in the political firmament" which the gentleman 
from Mississippi [Mr. ToMPKi>fs] has described 
him, will not that gentleman admit, at once, that 
the brighter the star the brighter the example, and 
the more worthy to be followed ? The gentleman 
praises the brilliancy of the star, but condemns 
those wiio walk by its light. Would he have 
that star " shorn of its beams" by fi-antic efforts to 
condemn the conductof Mr. Polk ? If not, I would 
advise him to bestow, in future, his eloquent de- 
nunciations upon some more -vulnerable point of 
the President's policy. Let the gentleman com- 
pare his own bitter denunciation of the President's 
special message with the attacks of Playne and 
Randolph upon that of the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts, and I think he will be compelled to ad- 
mit that his own is not more merited, and certainly 



is not milder, than that of either of those distin- 
guished gentlemen. Let him examine that portion 
of his own speech, where he says, "he should 
' take this occasion to give his views in relation to 
' that document sent to the House last week by 
' the President of the United States, in which he 
' refused to communicate to the Representatives of 
' the people any of the facts, or of the particulars 
' of the arrangement by which he restored to Mex- 
' ico one of the ablest generals Mexico could ever 
' boast, who found the country distracted, its 
' armies disbanded, its revenues 'exhausted, yet 
' out of this chaQs, this tmarchy, had organized 
' armies, had brought forth resources, and covered, 
' bathed as it were, the flowery plateau of Mex- 
' ico with the richest blood of ilmcrican soldiers! 
' And when they asked how this occurred, they 
' were told it was beyond the sphei'e of their du- 
' ties and power; that to ask it was an impudent 
' infringement of the Executive prerogative," dec, 
&c. Let him examine the charges made in this 
portion of his speech, and I think he will be com- 
pelled to admit that he has done the President 
the greatest injustice. Sir, hundreds and thou- 
sands of copies of that eloquent gentleman's speech 
will shortly be circulated over the country — for 
speeches are made here as much for the people as 
for this body — and hundreds of thousands of inno- 
cent Whig voters, when they read it, will, in the 
simplicity of their hearts, actually believe that the 
President did dare to address to this tlouse the 
language of which the gentleman from Mississippi 
has accused him. And thousands of others, if 
they do not believe that he used the very words 
above quoted, will believe that he said something 
very much like it. I am sure the gentleman from 
Mississippi must have read the special message 
hastily or carelessly. I do not believe he would 
do the President or any one else, not even his 
bitterest personal enemy, if he has any, the in- 
justice to publish to the world sentiments, ex- 
pressions, and opinions, which he never uttered 
or conceived. I am sure that I would not, sir, 
and I shall not believe the gentleman from Mis- 
sissippi would. Sir, there is not to be found 
in the Pre.'^ident's message one single word of 
which the gentleman has accused him in the 
extract which I have just read ; nor can any 
one, by the most forced innplication, extract from 
that message anything resembling the tone or 
language, or the substance or meaning, of what 
the gentleman has there so boldly charged. The 
President does not tell us that what we asked " is 
beyond the sphere of our duties and power;" he 
does not tell us that our inquiry " was an impu- 
dent infringement of the Executive prerogative;" 
he does not refuse to give us the information de- 
manded of him, concerning the return of Santa 
Anna, upon whose skill and prowess as a general 
the gentleman has lavished large encomiums. On 
the contrary, he tells us everything connected with 
his return. He refers us to his message of 1846, 
in which he distinctly sets forth all the facts which 
were in his possession. Hear what the President 
does say to this portion of the call of Congress, 
and 'compare it with what the gentleman has 
charged him. He says: 

'■' For further infnriruition relatinn; to the return of Snnta 
Anna to .Mnvico, I refer you to my annual message of De- 
cember 8, 1846. The farts and consitieratioi'is i^ateri in that 
message induced tlio order of tha Secretary of the Navy to 
the commander of oar squadron in the Gulf of Meiico, a 



6 



copy of wliich is hf^rewith communicntcil. This ordor was 
issiisj ^^ilnllltanl'nusly willi the nnlpr to blncknde the coiists 
of Ale.xiro, lioth bearing datiuhe 13th of May, 18-16— the day 
on which the existtnce of tiie war with Mexico was rccog^ 
nized by CJnnirress. It was issued soli'ly upon the views of 
policy presented in that message, and without any uiidcr- 
standiiic on the subject, direct or indirect, witli Santa Anna, 
or any other person." 

Sir, could anything be plainer, could anything 
be more clear and explicit? Stirely the gentleman 
would not require that the President should write 
out the whole of that portion of his annual mes- 
^ sage which refers to the return of Santa Anna, 
and send it to us in manuscript! He has referred 
us to that message; it is one of the records, one of 
the public documents of this House. All the in- 
formation upon this point, in the possession «f 
the President, and which was demanded by us, 
is there distinctly given, and we are respectfully 
requested by the President to turn to it, and read 
it. How, then, can the gentleman from Missis- 
sippi assert that the President refuses to inform us, 
and declares that our inquiry is " aii impudent 
infringement of his prerogative." 

But follow the gentleman further in his attack 
upon the President, and see if he has better foun- 
dation than that upon which his first charge 
stands. 

The President relies upon the example set him 
by Washiogton as one well calculated to support 
his action and justify it to the world. 

But the gentleman from Mississippi says: 

"The message of Wasliington which was quoted, was in 
relation to the trealy-niakin? power— a power conferred liy 
the Constitution upon the President and Senate; and treaty 
negotiations, as recognized by the practice of European 
Governments for centuries had peculiarly the feature of 
secrecy. But we had lived long enough to know, that in a 
republican form of governnierjt, where there are not those 
who are born to govern, the people of the country are the 
true sovereigns, and where, like the true sovereigns' in every 
country, they have a right, and it is tlieir duty, to know 
everything tliat is going on. Tliey require no public ser- 
vants to keep secrets ff)r theni, because that which is con- 
cealed is gener.ally disastrous to the public liberty," &c. 

Now, I should like to know if the gentleman 
means .seriously to contend, that becau.-5e we are a 
Republic, because the people are sovereign, all our 
treaty negotiations with foreign Powers should, 
even in their inception, their very commencement, 
long before there is even a probability of their 
being satisfactorily concluded, be published to the 
world.' Is it posssible he means to insist, that be- 
cause we are a Fiepublic we should give all nations 
with whoiTi we mean to negotiate the advantage of 
knowing every instruction, every secret order, 
, every advice and direction which it may be deemed 
politic to give our own agent, commissioner, or 
minister.' If he doc.si, I will not stop now to 
show him how very ridiculous such a course of 
conduct would be, because to do so would be a 
waste of time and a work of supererogation. Or 
will the gentleman deny that the " instructions and 
orders* issued to Mr. Slidell," a publication of 
which we deinanded of the President, were con- 
nected with the "treaty-making, power.'" Was 
not Mr. Slidell sent to Mexico for the purpose of 
negotiating a treaty between that Republic and our- 
selves.' and were not the instructions and cwdcrs 
given to him with a view of effecting that object.' 
Even if the gentleman were correct in the position 
which he seems to have assumed, that republics 
require no secrecy, even in their treaty negotia- 
tions, still he must attack the precedent of 



"Washington, before he can aflfect the conduct of 
Mr. Polk; for we were as much a republic, 
the people were as "sovereign,^' it was as much 
"their right and duty to know all that was going 
on," during the administration of Washington, 
as under that of James K. Polk. Yet General 
"Washington's idea of the people's "rights and 
duties" and of the "treaty- making power" dif- 
fered very widely from that of the gentleman 
from Mississippi. The truth is, sir, the circum- 
stances attending the call made upon General 
Washington, and his refusal to comply with it, 
were much less strong than those attending our 
recent call upon the present Executive. For in 
that case the negotiations had terminated — had 
closed; the "treaty had been concluded and rati- 
fied by the President and Senate." But have our 
negotiations with Mexico closed.' The gentleman 
says, " it was true, when they looked back to the 
' precedents, from the organization of the Govern- 
' mem, in which the right to maintain secrecy was 
' claimed, they found that they related only to ne- 
' gotiations then pending, and not to negotiations 
' which had been consummated." Will he say 
that our negotiations with Mexico " have been 
consummated.'" Does he not know that it is daily 
anticipated that they may be reopened .' Have we 
effected any arrangement with Mexico.' Has any 
treaty been confirmed and ratified by the President 
and Senate.' No, sir; the gentleman knows this 
is not the case. And I repeat again, that his attack 
ijpon the President will be utterly harmless, until 
he has proved the example of Washington to be 
unworthy of imitation. So long as Washington ' 
shall be revered and loved for his wisdom, virtue, 
and patriotism, so long shall his illustrious ex- 
ample clothe the present Executive in " panoply 
of proof" which shall defy the puny shafts of 
party malignity. 

So much, sir, for the gentleman's attack upon 
the special message of the President. Let us fol- 
low him in his remarks upon the policy of the 
Administration in the. prosecution of the present 
war. He says: "They proposed to indemnify 
' us for the lavish waste of treasure, but said 
' nothing about human life, human suffering, hu- 
' man wretchedness — all the untold wo and mourn- 
' ing, tears and groans, that filled thousands of 
•Itomes within our own land." 

Sir, no one can regret this suiTering, and wo, 
and wretchedness more than I do. I know the 
whole country regrets it. I know the Democratic 
party feels as much sympathy for the sufferers in 
this war, and I believe infinitely more, than those 
who are constantly denouncing them. But vvillthe 
course of conduct pursued by the gentleman and 
his friends tend to terminate this struggle.' Will 
the gentleman's vmmeasured denunciation of the 
President tend to bring Mexico to terms? Does 
the gentleman propose any plan, any method, any 
policy by which this war may be brought to a 
speedy and honorable close? Would it not be 
more patriotic, wiser, and more statesmanlike, in- 
stead of wasti'.ig precious time in idle railing at the 
conduct of the Executive, to propose some policy, 
by the successful prosecution of which, our dif- 
ficulties with Mexico might be brought to a close? 
When the gentleman shall come forward with such 
a proposition he will not find me backward in sup- 
porting him. Until he shall conceive and advance 
some policy preferable to that of the Adminislra- 



tiQn, I sincerely hope he will cease to damn the 
Executive. I know of no proposition offered by 
the Opposition but that of withdrawing our forces, 
abandoning our conquests, retreating to tlie Nueces, 
or, possibly, to the Sabine, and thus tacitly ad- 
mitting to the world that we have been all this 
while engaged in an unjust cause, which we dare 
no longer prosecute. Whether the gentleman 
from Mississippi would advise the adoption of 
this policy I am not informed. I hope he would 
not. I hope he knows enough of the American 
people to know that it is not in their nature to re- 
trograde. "Go ahead!" is the maxim of our 
people, and it should be inscribed upon every ban- 
ner that floats over them. As " General Taylor 
never surrenders," so his country never retreats. 
There is no retreat in our nature. 

If the Whig party persist in urging this back- 
ing-out policy, I shall advise them to abandon the 
" coon," which they formerly adopted as the type 
of their party, and to adopt the crab or the craw- 
fish. They are the only animals, I believe, that 
constantly move backwards or sidewi.se. 

But the gentleman compares us to the Moors 
who overran Old Spain more than a thousand years 
ago, and intimates, that as the Spaniards ultimate- 
ly expelled the Moors, and regained possession 
of their own country, so might we expect to fare 
in our occupancy of Mexico — it would " involve 
perpetual war," &c. How apt the comparison is 
between the Anglo-Saxon race of the present day 
and the Moors of the eighth century, or between 
the present degenerate inhabitants of Mexico and 
the chivalry of Spain underFerdinand andlsabella, 
I shall leave to the gentleman himself to show. It 
is a task surpassing my own poor ability. But as 
he seems to think it was " more the subtlety of 
the Spanish Jesuits than the Spanish sword that 
subjected the Aztec race to Spanish rule," I will 
remind him that there is a Yankee subtlety — 
*' cuteness" and cunning — much more effective in 
accomplishing any given object than the subtlety 
of Spanish Monk or Jesuit. 1 do not know whether 
it will be necessary for us to hold possession of 
Mexico. But if we do, I will venture tlie predic- 
tion that it will not be ten years (I believe 1 might 
say five) before the operation of our institutions, 
and the spirit of our government amongst them, 
will cause province after province to sue and beg 
for admission into our Union. 

But the gentleman's boldest assertion, and the 
one which has least foundation in fact of all those 
which he has made against the Executive, is con- 
tained in the following words: 

" Hcrrera's government had been friHndly to the United 
States and to peace. The revokition wliicli placed hioi in 
power was tlie only one which ?/Iexioohad litiown for some 
time, tliat did leap fiom the hearts of the iieople ; it was a 
popular exertion which had overthrown a military despot- 
ism. And yet our Executive would not permit that gov- 
ernment, thus friendly to our claims and to peace, to exist ; 
but by the embarrassment he pushed upon it, and plotting 
for the restoration of Santa Anna, overtlirew Herrera, and 
placed the affairs of rrlexico in the hands of a bitter enemy 
of the United States." 

Sir, when I heard the distinguished gentleman 
from Mississippi pronounce the grave ana bold 
charge which I have just read, I listened attentive- 
ly for the proof — the facts bj' which he meant to 
sustain it. It is a most serious charge, and one 
which no man has a right to make against another, 
whether he be President or private citizen, unless 
he can produce the proof to sustain it. The Presi- 



dent is accused of " pressing embarrassment upon 
and striving to overtlirow the only administration 
in Mexico friendly to his own country, and of 
plotting for the return of Santa Anna, a bitter ene- 
my of the United States." And yet the gentleman 
who made this heavy charge has failed to adduce 
one shadow of evidence in support of it! He has 
produced no^ evidence, because he could produce 
none, for none such existed ! 

By what means did the President seek to "em- 
barrass the administration of Herrera.'" He dis- 
patched a minister to treat with that Administra- 
tion after he had been assured a minister would 
be received. He sent a messenger of peace, in the 
earnest' hope that he would be able to accommo- 
date all difficulties between ourselves and Mexico. 
If this act were sufiicient to overthrow the only 
Mexican Administration which had " sprung from 
the hearts of the people," what becomes of the as- 
sertions of the Opposition, that there would have 
been no war but for the march of our forces to the 
Rio Grande ? If the bare eflbrt at negotiation upon 
our part was sufficient to overthrow the most popu- 
lar government of Mexico, how, by possibility, 
could we ever have come to terms with her but by 
first thrashing her into reason and decency! 

Sir, in what a wretched dilemma do the Whiga 
place themselves in their heedless effort to pull 
down the present Administration ! With one 
breath they abuse the President for .sending a 
minister of peace to Mexico, and call it " press- 
ing embarrassment" upon the friendly administra- 
tion of Herrera; with the next they denounce him 
for ordering our army to the Rio Grande, and call 
it a wanton invasion of the peaceful territory of a 
sister republic ! 

But the President aided to overthrow Herrera 
by " plotting for the return of Santa Anna. " Does 
not the gentleman from Mississippi know that 
there was no order issued to permit Santa Anna to 
pass our squadron until more than four months 
after the downfall of Herrera 's government ? Does 
he not know, that " on the 30th of December, 1845, 
' General Herrera resigned the Presidency and 
' yielded up the government to General Parede.s, 
' without a struggle ;" and that the order to suffer 
Santa Anna tfl pass our fleet did not issue until 
the ]3th of May, 1846, four months and a half 
afterwards? With what face, then, can the gen- 
tleman charge that the President, " plotting the 
return of Santa Anna," overthrew the govern- 
ment of Herrera.' The President gives us, in his 
annual message of 1846, the reasons, at length, 
which induced him, not to plot the return of Santa 
Anna, but to suffer him to pass our fleet, in case 
he should voluntarily attempt to return. Antf, in 
my opinion, the reasons there given are masterly 
and conclusive. 

He says: "Our object was the restoration of 
' peace, and, with this view, no reason was per- 
' ceived why we should take part with Paredes, 
' and aid him by means of our blockade in prevent- 
' ing the return of his rival to Mexico. On the 
; ct)ntrary, it was believed that the intestine divis- 
' ion which ordinary sagacity could not but anti- 
' qjate as the fruit of Santa Anna's return to Mex- 
' iro, and his contest with Paredes, might strongly 
' tend to produce a disposition with both parties to 
' restore and secure peace with the United States. 
' Paredes was a soldier by profession, and a mon- 
' archistin principle. He had but recently before 



Oir 



i } 






8 



' been successful in a military revolution, by which 
' he liad obtained power. He was tlie sworn enc- 

* my of the United States, with which he had in- 
' invo.ved his country in the existing war. Santa 
' Anna had been expelled from power by the army, 
' was known to be in open hostility to Paredes, 
'and publicly pledged against foreign intervention 

• and the restoration of monarchy in Mexico. * * 
' Had Paredes remained in power, it is morally 
' certain that any pacific adjustment would have 
' been hopeless." 

The President gives other reasons upon this 
subject, but I think what I have read is sufficient 
to convince all who are not resolved to remain dis- 
satisfied with everything the President has done or 
shall do. 

The gentleman from Mississippi says: 

" Just before the return of Santa Anna, our glorious chief- 
tain, Gsneral Taylor, whose skill and intrepidity as a gen- 
eral were equalled by tl\e clearness of his head and the 
greatness and goodness of his heart, had inr-t the Mcxiean 
forces and overthrown t!icm on the bank of the Rio Grande." 

But he does not tell us that it was the same pa- 
triotic and sensible man who udmr.cd the march of 
our army to the Rio Grande; who more than once 
urged the necessity of taking up a position on or 
near that river, and whose sensible advice it was 
that the Administration followed in that matter. I 
thought it would have been more appropriate had 
the gentleman's praise of General Taylor been in- 
troduced just afterthat portion of his speech where 
he thini<s we should be no party men, where he 
says: " It seemed to him that upon this point they 

* should not be divided into Vv^higs and Democrats; 

• that they ought to know no party but their coun- 
Mry." 

The gentleman had scarcely concluded his praise 
of General Taylor, before he treated us to an ex- 
travagant laudation of the military character of 
Santa Anna; and really, to judge from his remarks 
upon the two, one would be induced to believe 
that the Mexican, in his opinion, is the greater 
general of the two. He says of Santa Anna: "He 
' was a general of skill, of exhaustless resources, 
' of mind andx energy of action, who could strike 
' out of chaos the means to prosecute the war with 
' vigor." Why, sir, one would hardly suppose 
that this eulogium was pronounced upon the same 
Santa Anna whose whole force General Houston 
overthrew and routed with a mere handful of men; 



who, pn that occasion, outstripped tJie fleetest ruf- 
away among his own officers — fled fifteen mileS, 
until liis horse bogged down in a quagmire, then 
" took it afoot" — fled through the swamps and 
prairie-grass, to the Brazos timber, and was finally 
discovered snugly ensconced " in the forks of a 
large live-oak" — at least this is the account of the 
affair, as I find it in Niles's Register. We would 
hardly believe that this is the same man who 
was one of the very first to fly at Cerro Gordo, 
and who too"k his departure in such haste that 
he left one of his legs behind him. Yet this 
wretched coward is extolled by the gentleman as 
a general of skill and energy, who could strike 
out of chaos the mean;? to prosecute the war with 
vigor, &c. Sir, when the gentleman 's speech shall 
reach Mexico — for reach there it will, as sure as 
heaven's sun shines upon us — when Santa Anna 
shall see his own praise as pronounced by the gen- 
tleman from Mississippi, I doubt not he will, at 
least, believe himself a great general, the innumer- 
able drubbings he has received to the contrary 
notwithstanding. In the language of the author 
v/jiom the gentleman quoted more than once in hi3 
speech, he will no doubt exclaim — 
" My dukedom to a begT;arIy denier 
I do mistake my person all this vWiile ; 
For, by my life, he finds, though I cannot, 
Myself to be a marvellous proper man." 

Sir, the gentleman and his party are very wel- 
come to all the capital they can make out of the 
return of Santa Anna. The people know that he 
is a wretched poltroon, with capacity just sufficient 
to conduct a cock-fight, and with influence enough 
to "kick up a row" in his own country; but whom 
even the gentleman's ingenuity cannot magnify 
into a mighty captain. 

Sir, the Whig party used to furnish us some 
very tolerable sport in beating them before the 
people. We used to have some very interesting 
contests; they fighting, it is true, just hard enough 
to get beaten, but still with energy enough to make 
the struggle exciting; and I way looking forward 
with much pleasure to the coming contest next 
summer and fall. But really, if they persevere in 
the course which they have commenced here, I 
am afraid we will have little or nothing to do; 
their conduct will arouse a whirlwind of popular 
wrath, which will sweep them from the very face 
of the earth ! 



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